Japanese aerial cameras
Various Japanese companies manufactured aerial cameras. Most were made for the Japanese military forces before and during World War II. Further cameras, such as the Konica Type G, were made after 1945 for Japan's Self-Defense Forces or for other countries. Handheld reconnaissance cameras To be done. Fixed reconnaissance cameras To be done. Machine-gun training cameras Machine-gun training cameras are shaped as a machine gun, and are used to train the gunners. Rokuoh-sha made various such cameras from the mid-1920s onwards, and Tōkyō Kōgaku made at least one model in the late 1930s. Type 15 Gun Camera, for the Navy The Type 15 Gun Camera with Watch (一五式写真銃時計附) , item 6014. Nakayama and Imai, pp.126–7 of Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan. was made by Rokuoh-sha for the Navy, and the Type 15 Gun Camera Modified 1 (一五式写真銃改一) This page at R.Konishi Rokuoh-sha. was certainly an evolution. This machine-gun camera was ordered in May 1925 by Yamada Kōgorō (山田幸五郎) of the Japanese Navy, was produced from 1926 under the supervision of Mōri Hirō (毛利広雄), and delivered from 1927. It was inspired by the Hythe gun camera made by Thornton-Pickard in Great-Britain from 1915, itself based on the Lewis machine gun. The Japanese copy was initially equipped with Wollensak or Zeiss Tessar lenses. It is said that it was produced until 1942, certainly switching to Japanese lenses at some point. The camera takes 120 size rollfilm, and reportedly makes 4×4.5cm exposures, with target rings superimposed on the image. The time is recorded on the rest of the 6×6cm frame via a secondary lens on the side, taking pictures of a watch dial placed under the front bead. The camera has no sequential firing ability, and the frames are advanced by a spring motor one by one. The gun camera normally has a drum magazine at the top, only used to enhance the similarity with the Lewis machine gun. Revolving Target-checking Camera, for the Army The Revolving Target-checking Camera (廻転式射撃鑑査写真機) was a similar camera made by Rokuoh-sha for the Army. , item 6018. (In the name, the word "revolving" either refers to the drum magazine mounted at the top or to the fact that the camera was mounted on a turret.) The camera was also called "Hythe model" (ハイス型), Label inside the original box, observed in a picture posted at a forum. after the original Hythe gun camera of which it was a copy. Iwama, p.54 of no.10, mentions a "Hythe model Target-checking Camera" (ハイス型射撃鑑査写真機) for the Navy. This is probably a confusion between the Army's Revolving Target-checking Camera and the Navy's Type 15 Gun Camera. This model was perhaps released around 1926, at the same time as the Type 15 for the Navy. The image size is 4.5×6cm on 120 film, and there is no time recording device. It is said that the early cameras have Wollensak or Zeiss Tessar lenses. Later ones have an Optor 28.5cm f/11 lens. Example pictured in this page at Seawood Photo. The same camera was also made by Kōgaku], which supplied 605 units to the Japanese Army. The version made by this company is called "Model 17" in some recent sources, but this is perhaps a confusion with the serial number of a surviving camera. The camera is called "Model 17" in , item 6016, but the Japanese text actually corresponds to a serial number (第十七号), certainly that of the pictured example. Antonetto and Russo, p.25, repeat the name "model 17", certainly after , and say that this was a "rapid-firing camera capable of shooting a burst of 4.5×6cm frames", perhaps by mistake. Type 89 Machine-gun Camera The Type 89 Moving-image Machine-gun Camera (八九式活動写真銃) was an all new model by Rokuoh-sha. It is said that four experimental cameras were made in 1929. (In the name, "Type 89" stands for year 2589 in the Japanese mythological calendar, i.e. 1929.) That early version perhaps had imported lenses. The Modified 1 (改一) version followed in 1931 with Hexar lenses. This page at R.Konishi Rokuoh-sha mentions a batch of four, followed by another batch of ten, but there were perhaps others. with a batch of four completed in 1931, then another batch of ten. A picture of the Modified 1 is visble in this page at Aho Ressha Pictorial, reproduced from the book Kurashikku Kamera Hakubutsukan. The serial produced version was the Modified 2 (改二), made from 1933 to about 1944. The camera takes 18×24mm pictures , item 6015. on 35mm cine film loaded in 2.5m strips. Iwama, p.54 of no.10. It is driven by a spring motor, and can take sequences at 10 frames per second. The taking lens is a Hexar Ser.1 7.5cm f/4.5, and the firing time is recorded via a Hexar Ser.1 4cm f/4.5 auxiliary lens aimed at a stop watch dial. The optical sight, handgrip and attachment lugs are removable, and minor variations may exist. Minor variations are reported between the two examples pictured in Nakayama and Imai, pp.124–5 of Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan. Fixed target cameras Target cameras are attached inside or outside the aircraft, and are able to shoot a rapid sequence of images to document the result of a combat action or for training purpose. Attached outside the aircraft The Fixed Target-checking Camera (固定射撃鑑査写真機) The name is given in this page of the Yokohama Radio Museum. It is called "Zero Fighter Target-checking Camera" (固定射撃鑑査銃, literally "Fixed Target-checking Gun") in , item 6017. was patterned after the profiled gun camera made by the French company OPL. It was also called "type Levallois", "Levallois" is spelled Rubaroa ルバロア in this page of the Yokohama Radio Museum. certainly for that reason (OPL is "Optique de Précision de Levallois"). The camera is contained in an aerodynamic fairing, attached outside the aircraft under the fuselage or wings. It takes 4.5×6cm exposures on 120 film, and has a single shutter speed. , item 6017. At least some examples were made by Tōkyō Kōgaku, and have a Toko 35.6cm f/4.5 fixed-focus lens. It is said that they were issued in 1941 and used by the Navy on the Zero fighter; , item 6017. This is repeated in Antonetto and Russo, p.25. The latter source mistakenly says that the camera was relatively similar to the preceding "Model 17" machine-gun target-checking camera. however the camera looks older and it is likely that the Zero had more modern gun cameras mounted inside the wings (see below). Fitted inside the wings Rokuoh-sha made various cameras, mounted inside the aircraft wings. The Type 1 Fixed Target-checking Camera (一式固定射撃鑑査写真機), for the Army, takes 16mm film and has an Optor 75/3.5 lens. The Type 2 Fixed Target-checking Camera (二式固定射撃鑑査写真機) is shaped as a machine gun, and takes 16mm film cartridges akin to bullet magazines. It was also made for the Army from 1942 to the end of the war. The Type 2 Moving-image Machine-gun Camera (二式活動写真銃) is another gun camera made for the Navy from 1942, reportedly used in the Zero fighter. Iwama, pp.54–5 of no.10. It is unclear if it takes 16mm or 35mm film. Iwama, pp.54–5 of no.10, mentions 16mm film in the text but 2.4×3.6cm frame size in the picture caption. It has a Hexar 45/2, and takes 300 shots at 12 frames per second. Iwama, pp.55 of no.10. Notes Bibliography * P.25. * Iwama Tomohisa (岩間倶久). "Konica history 8. Konishiroku no gun'yō kamera." (Konica history 8. 小西六の軍用カメラ. Konishiroku military cameras.) Pp.54–5. * Pp.538, 545 and 673–4. * Nakayama Kaeru (中山蛙) and Imai Kesaharu (今井今朝春). Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan (ミリタリー軍用カメラ大図鑑, Album of military cameras). Tokyo: Green Arrow, 1997. ISBN 4-7663-3192-3. * Items 6010–18. Links In English: * Japanese aerial cameras in the collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum * Type 100 Small Aerial Camera (SK-100) at Oddity Cameras * Machine-gun cameras at Seawood Photo, showing a Revolving Target-checking Camera and a Type 89 Machine-gun Camera Kai 2 * Type 89 Machine-gun Camera Kai 2 among Japanese artefacts at the Museum of World War II, Boston * "Nikon and the sponsorship of Japan's optical industry by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1917-1945", by Jeff Alexander, published in Gateway * Past sales by Westlicht: ** Type 89 Machine-gun Camera Kai 2: lot no.609 of auction no.4 (November 22, 2003) ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.713 of auction no.11 (May 26, 2007) * Past auctions by LP Foto: ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.96 and lot no.97 of auction no.18 (April 27, 2003) ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.64 of auction no.20 (May 16, 2004) ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.86 of auction no.24 (April 22, 2006) ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.100 of auction no.28 (December 9, 2007) ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.79 of auction no.29 (March 16, 2008) ** Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.115 of auction no.31 (November 2, 2008) * Konica Aerial Type G: lot no.316 of the March 25, 2006 Photographica and Film auction by Auction Team Breker In Japanese: * Wetwing Aerial Camera, with the following subpages: ** Aerial camera models ** 25cm Aerial Camera ** Aerial Camera Type 96 ** Aerial Camera Type 99 * Type 99 Very Small Aerial Camera (GSK-99) among other naval cameras * Pages at Kore nāni: ** Navy Handheld Aerial Camera 25cm ** Navy Type 99 Aerial Camera 15cm ** Type 100 Small Aerial Camera (SK-100) * Type 100 Small Aerial Camera (SK-100) at Nagoya's Camera Club * Type 100 Small Aerial Camera (SK-100) in the Topcon Club website * Type 100 Small Aerial Camera (SK-100) at Miliken's blog * Type 89 Machine-gun Camera Kai 2 at Aiki Ainichi * Hexar Ser.1 7.5cm f/4.5, perhaps for the Type 89 Machine-gun Camera, at Aho Ressha Pictorial * Rokuoh-sha lenses at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha, with information on the company's aerial cameras * Japanese aerial cameras at the Yokohama radio museum, with pictures of an Automatic Aerial Camera Mark 1 Model 2, of a Fixed Target-checking Camera (type Levallois), and of a Type 1 Fixed Target-checking Camera Category: Japanese cameras Category: Aerial cameras